All customers will eligible Office 365 and Microsoft 365 accounts will get access to the app, which is geared towards work rather than personal chat. The app integrates with services to plan meetings, poll employees, collect payments, and offer secure sharing. It’s something of a conflict with the company’s existing Microsoft Teams app, which is also geared towards workplace chat. As a result, Microsoft is planning to bring both together to avoid communications issues....

The core goal of the redesign is to increase productivity for commercial users. You can see how this looks in the main image above. Microsoft is focusing on providing a new Quick Access section in the Home interface. Furthermore, a new Create pane allows simpler creation of files by tapping into templates within the standard UI. Another major change is a new My Content pan that provides all content that the document or work is linked to....

Speaking on last Thursday’s “Bloomberg Technology,” Smith says he remains confident despite the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suing Microsoft to stop the deal. The regulator believes Microsoft will withhold Activision Blizzard games from other platforms. Even so, Smith is sure this is just a stumble and that the deal will go ahead as planned: “We originally said when we announced this in January this year, 2022, that we were looking at it in 2023 and that’s still the way we look at it....

Fore example, users will find it easier to move between different keyboard modes. SwiftKey now includes an icon in the toolbar to make this process more efficient. Elsewhere, the app has solved an issue where unwanted keystrokes would accidentally trigger “Autocorrect”. Lastly, there are some bug fixes included in the update. Notably, instead of unnamed fixes, SwiftKey point to a fix for a known issue where letters were not being recognized by the TalkBack features....

It is worth noting Microsoft and Qualcomm have never said there is an exclusive contract between the two. However, no Windows on ARM device has ever shipped without a Qualcomm processor. Furthermore, the chip giant was a co-host of Microsoft’s Always Connected PC launch. According to XDA-Developers, there was an exclusive deal in place and it is now coming to an end. We have started seeing some movement that suggests Microsoft is looking to movie away from its partner....

The achievement is particularly significant because it’s the antithesis of the company’s shift in strategy after the death of Windows 10 Mobile. It has instead been focusing on its Android offerings and closing the gap between the two platforms. After years of hard work, Microsoft has improved the functionality of Your Phone significantly. Users can now use their PC to sync photos, reply to notifications and text messages, take phone calls, and mirror their screen....

For the unfamiliar, Outlook.com Premium made its debut just this year, in February. It promised users an ad-free experience, personalized emails, calendar and contact sharing, and more. The launch came with a special price of $19.95 a year, later going up to $49.99. It’s a lot to pay for a few email features and its difficult to tell what Microsoft’s motivations are. It could be that there will simply too few subscribers, or it’s possible Microsoft just wants to focus on its already strong Office 365 instead....

A new Microsoft Patent shows the company is working to make its Surface products easier to fix. If the patent comes to fruition, it would be good news for customer. Over the years, users have lamented how unrepairable Surface devices are. If you have a hardware issue, you will almost always have to ship the device back to Microsoft. Often, the company will replace the unit rather than repair it....

We have been used to having at least one new Surface product each year since the first tablet launched back in 2012. The quietest hardware year for Microsoft since then was 2014 when just the Surface Pro 3 was launched. Since then we have had at least two new devices each year. Brad Sams at Thurrott.com uncovered internal documents that point to new hardware on the way. Some of these will be updated of current products, while some will be new devices....

As we move further into the second year of the pandemic, it seems online civility is dwindling. A survey of 11,067 people across 22 countries by Microsoft shows 82% of the countries were seeing net-worse net civility during the COVID crisis. Microsoft surveyed age groups between 13 and 74 and asked about 21 common online risks spread across four categories: behavioral, personal, reputational, and sexual. Germany, Poland, Philippines, Hungary, and Italy showed the biggest decline in online civility....

When a user types into the current keyboard, Windows 10 uses Indian Phonetic keyboard to translate the typed words into a suggested Indic option. In a report, ONMSFT highlights how the feature works: “For instance, if we type “namaste” using the Phonetic keyboard, it will automatically suggest ?????? / ????? / ?????? in Hindi/Punjabi/Gujarati.” Windows Insiders can test the new Indian Phonetic keyboards as part of Windows 10 Preview Build 18272, which rolled out last month....

The company has previously discussed how AI is transforming the efficiency of Windows 10 updates. Microsoft says the recently launched April 2018 Update reached more users faster because of AI. This week, Windows Insider chief Dona Sarkar talked about expanding machine learning in Windows 10 updates. Discussing the release of Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17723 and Build 18204, Sarkar says a predicative model will be used to study user habits....

In its current form, file attachments for Microsoft To-Do are image-only. You can’t attach important files like Office documents, .psd files, etc. You’re also unable to add files to shared lists, which is one of the most useful scenarios. Clearly, it’s still early days, but To-Do does support syncing to Windows 10 PCs, where an Insider build also implements the functionality. Microsoft says it will have more filetype options soon, and it’s likely shared list support will follow....

Leading the changes is the ability to toggle dark mode and see Microsoft To-Do with its dark theme. You may remember this feature was previously part of the experience but was removed. Microsoft has now brought it back. Elsewhere in Version 2.2, Microsoft To-Do users have the ability to drag a URL onto a task on the iPad. This can be done from any other app taking advantage of iPadOS 13’s Multiple Windows feature....

A report from Ars Technica suggests Windows 10 Pro will ditch one important feature through the FCU. Specifically, the Resilient File System will be removed from the platform. The removal of the feature was spotted on a support Page for the Fall Creators Update. Basically, the omission from Windows 10 Pro would mean users on that version of the platform will not be able to create new ReFS volumes. The version will be limited to Read and Write functionality....

In an announcement, Microsoft says current deployments on Azure Blockchain will be supported until the cut off date. However, the company is not accepting any new deployments or members starting from May 10: “On September 10, 2021, Azure Blockchain will be retired. Please migrate ledger data from Azure Blockchain Service to an alternative offering based on your development status in production or evaluation.” Azure Blockchain was launched in 2015 as a Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)....

Essentially, Microsoft is making Edge an attractive option for people who sync between iOS and their PC. Obviously, that would include business users who may need their browser history to cross the both platforms. Windows Timeline presents a view of the photos within the app that allows users to easily scroll through images. The new feature will allow users to see photos in reverse chronological order. It is worth noting that this release bumps Edge on iOS to version 41....

Ink beautification allows users to automatically spruce up their handwritten notes. Writing on a screen is not easy, but beautification will make notes more legible. This is achieved by Whiteboard by analyzing the handwriting and replacing the strokes. Ink grab is the second new feature. It gives users the ability to take a photo of notes on a real physical board and convert the image into digital ink on the Whiteboard application....

Security researchers says there is an ongoing attack campaign involving an exploit of the Exim mail transport agent (MTA). Bad actors are leveraging the flaw to run remote execution command attacks on Linux systems. Over 3.5 million servers are reportedly at risk from the wormable exploit. Exim is the most popular mail server, running 57 percent of all the internet’s email servers. The vulnerability results from incorrect validation of receiving email addresses within Exim....

Microsoft Whiteboard gives users access to features such as collaborative inking, geometry recognition, table conversion, and automatic table shading. On top of that, Office 365 subscribers will get their hands on exclusive capabilities. In the announcement blog post, Microsoft reveals that the Whiteboard app is currently available in private preview on Surface Hub devices, and to education customers. Additionally, the company says the app will come to Windows 10 later this year....